This is an interesting statistic. It's not clear whether only one car or more than one car is involved, which is why the title of this article used the word "car crash" instead of "collision". Presumably, the 31% of occurrences could be caused by a single car simply driving off the side of the road or a multi-car collision.
Either way, nearly one-third of US-based traffic fatalities are the result of driving off the road.
Is Canada any different?
We're in Canada – particularly the prairies – so a few factors will impact the statistic:
- A factor that reduces the statistic: There aren't steep drop-offs. In some situations there are (BC and Western Alberta) but a lot of the roads are prairies.
- A factor that increases the statistic: Our roads are in worse condition because of the extreme temperature shifts.
- A factor that increases the statistic: Bad winter weather can potentially make driving more dangerous.
- A factor that increases the statistic: It's farther between towns so there are more rural roads.
- With these reducing/increasing factors, it's safe to assume that we have an approximately equivalent 30% of car-related fatalities as a result of people driving off the road – perhaps even slightly higher. Since there were 2209 traffic-related fatalities in Canada, let's assume that 30% -- 660 – of those fatalities were related to driving off the road.
We've been talking about big numbers and statistics but let's boil it down to why it matters to you: This all-too-common type of car crash sounds like one of the more preventable collisions! As drivers, only a few things tend to force us off the road:
- Loss of focus (often related to something inside the car, like falling asleep or a ringing cellphone)
- Loss of control (often related to weather, a mechanical issue, other drivers, or animals)
We want you to be safe! If you do get into a collision, the team at Boyd Autobody can help to repair your car and get you back on the road quickly and safely.
